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She also felt a sadness for all the years that she’d denied and delayed. She looked up at her new husband, who looked concerned as he gazed down at her.
“You okay, Cindy?”
“Yes, of course. It’s just that I’m sorry for being such a jerk for so long, Richie. But I’m a hundred times better now.
“Thank you for waiting for me to wise up. I think I needed each of those years to learn to believe in myself as a wife. Your wife. To accept that we could be a team and that I could make you happy.”
“Cin, we used those years to benefit our future.”
Cindy nodded and reached up on tiptoes to kiss her husband as their guests surrounded them, enclosed them in atight knot moving toward the door. Her parents worked their arms around them, and so did their friends and siblings as they left the small chapel through the narrow doorway and gathered on the front steps.
The photographer was waiting and quickly lined up her shots of the brand-new married couple and the wedding party. Cindy gripped Richie’s hand. He squeezed and released hers so he could wrap his arm around her waist.
The photographer said, “Cindy, Rich, look at me.”
Enveloped by love, a beaming Cindy posed for many pictures, all the while keeping her one precious secret. She would wait until tonight when she and Rich were in bed. That’s when she would tell her best friend, her dear, sweet husband, what only she knew.
Tonight would be the beginning of her married life with the only man she’d ever loved.